Title: Untitled
By: Caroline Crane
Pairing: Nick/Greg
Rating: PG

Author's note: Lately I seem a little obsessed with universes that I can dive into at any random point. This is part of that whole nebulous post-"Play With Fire" universe that exists mostly in my head. I confess I've probably done the 'Nick's jealous' angle about a dozen times, but this is what the prompt prompted, so here we are. Again. Sorry.


Nick knew he should be glad that Greg was finally easing back into his old routine. And he was, because the past few weeks had been hard on them both and it was a relief to stop worrying about Greg so much. So he didn't really mind that Greg was already back to flirting with everyone who happened to wander into his lab, but that didn't mean he wanted to see it.

He nodded at Sara as she passed him on the way out of Greg's lab, smile still firmly in place and…yeah, she was blushing. Which meant Greg was in rare form; Nick told himself he was glad Greg was feeling so much better, but there was still a part of him that kind of wanted to kill Sara.

"Hey, Casanova," he said when he stopped in front of Greg's lab station, voice low even though there was no one else in the room.

"Ooh, are we doing the pet names thing?" Greg asked, grinning that grin and Nick hated himself for thinking it was cute. "What should I call you? I was thinking 'stud'. But you're probably into something more traditional like 'babe'."

He couldn't tell if Greg was serious or not, but he had a feeling it was better to pretend he had no idea what Greg was talking about. The thought of Greg getting into the habit of calling him babe – or worse – when they worked together…Warrick had told him what happened with Sara and that EMT, after all, and it was used against her in court.

"You were laying it on a little thick with Sara tonight, weren't you?" he said instead, glancing toward the door to make sure she wasn't still hanging around.

"It's good for her self-esteem," Greg answered, but he was still grinning and now Nick was getting pissed.

"So what's your excuse with Catherine?"

He hadn't meant to say it, but as soon as he did Greg's expression changed and Nick knew there was no taking it back. And maybe he didn't even want to, because this whole situation was way too complicated, and it was exactly the reason he'd been planning to tell Greg they couldn't see each other anymore. If it wasn't for the explosion they wouldn't even be having this conversation; he might still be jealous of the way Greg flirted with everyone in the lab, but he never would have admitted it.

"You're cute when you're jealous, you know."

"I'm not jealous," Nick lied, and now Greg was smirking at him. "Do you have my results or what?"

"I paged you, didn't I?" Greg said, suddenly all business and okay, that was probably bad.

He hadn't been trying to start a fight, but then again, maybe it was best this way. Greg was still living with him, and neither of them had said anything about him going back to his own place. The truth was that Nick didn’t really want him to go anywhere, no matter whether he was ready to take care of himself again or not. He hadn't said that, though, and maybe it was best to let Greg go back to his own life. Maybe if there was some distance between them this whole thing would seem less…intense, maybe it would just run its course and then they could go back to being just two guys who worked together.

Only he knew better, and when Greg held out Nick's test results he found himself brushing the back of Greg's hands with his fingertips. "Listen, G…"

"Your mysterious DNA is male. Doesn't match the vic's or your suspect's," Greg interrupted. He wasn't smirking anymore, but he wasn't smiling either and that was definitely a bad sign. "Back to the drawing board for you."

It was true; no DNA match meant the rest of his evidence wouldn't hold up, and that meant he was back at square one. Which meant he had a long night ahead of him, and now he was going to be distracted the whole time, trying to decide whether or not Greg was mad at him, and whether or not he should care.

"Thanks." He knew he should just leave, just let it go and maybe when he finally did get home he'd find his house empty. It would be the first time in weeks, and he told himself the hollow feeling in the pit of his stomach was because of his case and not the idea of Greg going back to his apartment.

"So you didn't answer me."

Nick swallowed a shudder at the sound of Greg's voice, a lot closer than it had been a few seconds ago and when he looked up Greg was so close they were practically touching. "What?"

"I'm leaning toward 'stud', myself," Greg went on as though he hadn't even heard Nick. "I mean I'm speaking from experience here."

And now he was blushing, which wouldn't be so bad if Catherine wasn't waiting for him back in the evidence room. "G…"

Greg shrugged and took a step backwards, and Nick had to fight not to reach for him and pull him close again. But they were still at work, and hadn't Greg been mad at him just a second ago? "You can tell me later. And then you can show me that thing you do with your tongue again. I bet even Catherine doesn't know that one."

Nick was pretty sure he was still going to be blushing when he got Greg alone again; he was still going to be confused, too, because a minute ago he'd been pretty sure they were on the verge of breaking up, and just like that Greg managed to pull him right back in again. It was weird, how he did that, and one of these days Nick would remember to ask him how it worked. If Greg didn't manage to distract him first, and that was the whole problem.

"I…uh…I have to get back to work. Catherine's waiting."

"Tell her I said hi," Greg answered, suddenly focused on something on his lab station, but Nick was almost sure he was grinning. And Nick still didn't get why Greg flirted with everyone, but he wasn't sure he cared anymore. After all, he was the one Greg went home with.